General Grievous Is A Better Idea Anyway
I love Maul. Top 10 favourite Star Wars character easy. Maybe even Top 5 and his return would have been a delight to me in 2005 but in hindsight, maybe not. I think the return of Maul was handled beautifully in The Clone Wars animated series and I think its because Lucas always knew hed be coming back at some stage (in Revenge of the Sith if this wild theory is correct). I think if Lucas had envisioned General Grievous as Maul originally he would have been aware that the epic nature of his return would have given Obi-Wan a personal battle in the middle of Episode III and it would have been a rematch people wanted to see. But really Revenge of the Sith just didnt need it. Of course Obi-Wans big event is with Anakin. Having Darth Maul return would have been sort of distracting and largely pointless given how he would have been taken out again and much like Asajj Ventress in The Clone Wars animated series, it would have muddied the only two there are dynamic within the Sith a little bit. The side lined third sort-of-Sith set up works better within a multi episode TV show because it can be explored. In the films its always just been suggested, join me and we can rule the galaxy type stuff rather than actually played out. I still think theres a draft somewhere where Lucas had General Grievous as a resurrected Darth Maul, it just ties in, in too many ways for it not to have been at least a temptation, the characters have too many similarities. However, how it stands, General Grievous is still a fine addition to the world of Star Wars. Hes sort of a big coward and doesnt really amount to much but Lucas sells us bad guys better than most and with General Grievous he truly gave us something a little bit different all while informing us that a broken Anakin Skywalker could still function within a iron lung style suit. I know, this one is a thin theory but it's one I was keen to share, discuss and dissect with you all. At best it's a bit of fanboy fun but I think there's something in there somewhere that's worth a thought or two. So what do you guys think? Did General Grievous spawn out of an initial temptation to bring Maul back? Would it have worked having Maul in a rematch with Obi-Wan slap bang in the middle of Episode III? Who's better Grievous or Maul and why? Leave your comments below.